Higher bus fares put rural routes at risk of closure, an MP has warned, while another said he had heard from would-be passengers who have had to turn down job offers because of gaps in the network.
Sarah Dyke, the Liberal Democrat MP for Glastonbury and Somerton, said she hoped the end of the £2 bus fare cap “is not the start of things to come” for rural England.
Her warning on Thursday followed the Treasury’s decision to raise the bus fare cap to £3 throughout 2025, which Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in October’s Budget.
The current £2 cap was due to expire at the end of 2024.
Ms Dyke told the Commons in a debate about improving public transport: “The point that I want to make here is that if prices go up any further, patronage on buses goes down, and that is absolutely paramount in rural areas where we travel further and travel longer.
“To incentivise people to use buses in rural areas is a very difficult thing to do, so I think that we need to ensure that we get this right for rural areas.
Increasing fares is not going to help us encourage more people to get out of their cars and use public transport
“Increasing fares is not going to help us encourage more people to get out of their cars and use public transport.”
She had earlier said: “I hope that the recent removal of the £2 bus fare cap is not the start of things to come for rural areas.
“The nature of rural bus routes means that journeys are longer. People travel further.
“And if now the £3 cap were to be removed, it would be disastrous for rural areas as prices would rise beyond affordable rates very quickly and disincentivise regular bus patronage.”
Polly Billington, Labour MP for East Thanet, told MPs that “the previous government had not actually funded the bus cap of £2 beyond the current level and so therefore what we actually have is a cap on bus fares in order for people not to end up with exponential fare rises for the next spending period”.
Dr Simon Opher, Labour MP for Stroud, told the Commons an end to the 84 and 85 bus routes in his Gloucestershire constituency had caused “havoc”.
He said: “Almost four decades of deregulation on our public system has made a lot of communities absolutely stripped of any public transport at all, and certainly any accessibility on affordable bus services.
“So I’m delighted that this Government plans to restore power to local communities, enabling local leaders to set fares, determine routes and establish timetables, taking control away from unaccountable private operators, however, I do urge the minister to confirm that rural areas without an elected mayor will also have equal opportunities to benefit from this shift towards community controlled bus services.”
Dr Opher described the axed routes in Wotton-under-Edge and Yate as a “lifeline”.
He said their cancellation, after South Gloucestershire Council and Gloucestershire County Council could not find a long-term funding option, had “caused havoc for schoolchildren”.
He added: “People can’t get to work, people can’t get to doctors’ surgeries and people can’t get to hospitals.
“And actually people have written to me saying they’ve had to turn down job offers, and that’s how important rural bus services are.”
Announcing her Budget, Ms Reeves said in October that she understood “how important bus services are for our communities, so we will extend the cap for a further year, setting it at £3 until December 2025”.
She also announced more than £650 million in local transport funding “to improve connections across our country”.
Transport minister Simon Lightwood said: “The current £2 cap on single bus fares had been due to run out at the end of this year, as its funding expired. This will of course be replaced by a £3 cap to help millions of people … to reach better opportunities and promote greater bus use by passengers.”
